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Through the Eye of the Tortured

Chapter 2: Memories and Monsters

Kano continued his trek towards the other spirits, all of who waited in single file for judgement. More Demons came and went in his field of vision, but none bothered with him. Some glanced and laughed, but most were uninterested. Kintaro may not have been the only Demon to see no sport in attacking one who could do them no harm... But that would change in due time. Perhaps through his own trials and tribulations, Kano would become a Demon the same way Sheeva did, but if anything, he hoped it would happen sooner rather than later. He betrayed Sheeva's plan to Shao Kahn and was directly responsible for her death. Who else would come to find him?

"Kano..."

He turned around but saw no one.''Kano..." The voice whispered once more, gently, peacefully, longingly. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Kano could not put his finger on it. It was another woman's voice, but this time he was certain she was human. "Kano..." It whispered again, in his ear, in his head, the tone toying with his emotions, every whisper feeling like a stinging papercut. Who was calling him? Was the Netherealm stretching his sanity? Was it someone he could not see? It was impossible to tell.

"KANO!" The voice changed into a man's, thick and fierce, furious at Kano for some unknown wrong. Again, it sounded familiar and racked at Kano's mind. He stumbled as if given a blow to his head, as if the voice had struck him, bringing him to his knees.

"Do you remember us?" A third voice, another male but higher pitch, rang in his ear, inducing a burning sensation that left him writhing with pain on the floor.

All three voices called to Kano in unison, taunting him, all of them bringing out the horrible sensations Kano felt with each individual voice. His flesh was cut up and he was covered in his own blood, the ground swallowing every drop of it as the floor he laid on violently quaked and cracked beneath him, and all he could feel was a burning pain overcome him, searing his skin and wounds, blinding him as if flames lapped at his sores. Kano sprawled on the floor, covered in cuts, bruises, and burns, and was engulfed in a storm of sand and fire. What did these voices want?

"Leave me alone you fucking retards," he shouted into the air, "stop talking to me!"

"Why did you let us die?"

Suddenly, the aches and pains stopped. He looked down at his body and saw he was not harmed at all. The storm, if it had even happened, had subsided, and aside from the screams of pain from the denizens of the Netherealm, there were no more voices to be heard. However, the question he heard struck a chord with Kano. Who were these people he let die? Kano killed hundreds of people in his life, but the voices implied disappointment, as if he let them down somehow. Who could they be? All his life, he lived for himself, not others. Nobody relied on him, and he made sure of it. If he needed anyone, he would ask his allies or his friends, and he never betrayed anyone he cared about. He chose to do much on his own for the benefit of himself or the Black Dragon clan.

The screams of torment around him turned into childish laughter, and the surroundings became hauntingly familiar to Kano. He was in a schoolyard in Tokyo, two years before he and his parents moved to Australia. Memories of his childhood flooded his mind and filled the world around him. From nothing, perversions of those who mocked him as a little boy emerged and encircled him. He remembered their taunts distinctly; they called him a white devil, the son of a whore who bore him because she swallowed too much semen, and white trash that did not belong in their school. They pelted him with stones, shouting their slurs, spinning around him and making him dizzy and nauseous with disgust and sadness. When he reached his boiling point, he screamed with rage and dashed at them as he had in his youth. But they faded away as quickly as they appeared, and he found himself yelling at nothing but a vast, charred beach with ashes for a shore and magma for an ocean.

"Your turn approaches. Please return to the line." The voice rang in his head, compelling him to finish waiting. He took a moment to compose himself and find the spirits again, but he could see by their moans and frantic actions that they, too, experienced pains and bad memories here. More Demons began appearing around them, especially Oni, sniffing their feet to make sure they were dead, and hoping to find a living being to consume. Kano was reminded of Drahmin and Moloch while observing them and noted that, interestingly enough, small Oni were often paired with large ones, leading them around and telling them what to do. Considering Drahmin was smarter than Moloch and guided him, perhaps this was a common arrangement here. Two Oni approached Kano, but upon giving him a closer look, hissed and leapt over him, attacking something Kano could not see. He thought it somewhat amusing to see these two monsters fighting with absolutely nothing, but whatever this invisible creature was, it threw the smaller Oni into a river of hot mercury, then broke the leg of the larger and threw it into a skeleton pillar covered in protruding, metal spikes, impaling it head-first. The smaller Oni flailed in the mercury as it burned and screamed, but eventually was silenced by the waves and went under. The larger Oni did not move and its limbs dangled as bony hands began stripping it of its skin, the bones craving its blood to remind them of what they once had. Eventually the creatures would regenerate like Scorpion, but that was not Kano's concern; he wanted to know what it was they fought that was so close to him.

He felt something smack him in the head, sending him spiraling into a pillar. With quick thinking, he cannonballed to the side of it, only slightly grazed by a spike on his left arm. He stood up and saw nothing, but heard growling and the beating of hooves on the hard ground. Kano dodged in a random direction, hoping to evade his invisible foe, but he felt something wrap around his neck and lift him in the air. He struggled to escape, but whatever it was that held him would not let go. The creature breathed hard, and repeatedly and violently slammed him against the ground. It eventually threw Kano like a ragdoll into the air as a red glow appeared and illuminated the Demon's silhouette. Before he could make out its shape, the glow became large, red, spherical projectiles that hit Kano and sent him back to the ashy shore.

He laid on the ground for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do about this Demon. As a wave of magma neared Kano from one side, and the beat of hooves from the other, an idea came to him and he grabbed a handful of ash. He stood up and shouted, "come on you little boony bastard! I'm right here!"

An angry roar replied, indicating the Demon's proximity to Kano. When the time was right, he threw the ashes into the air in front of him, and ran to the side to avoid the oncoming behemoth. The Demon coughed and struggled to roar as the ash splashed into its eyes and mouth, and frantically tried to remove all traces of it. Kano ran as fast as he could away from the creature, hoping the magma would at least cripple it before the Demon could regain its sight.

Kano stopped and turned to see the wave come in, but instead of sweeping up the creature, the magma hit a red energy barrier that protected the Demon. Its blackened face was now clearly visible thanks to the ash, and as it scowled at Kano, it vanished into thin air. Seconds later, Kano heard heavy breathing behind him. He slowly turned and saw the Demon's visibly hairy chest, and felt its breath on his face. He looked up and recognized Motaro with ease, as the Centaurian's face was not as drastically changed as his body was from his time in the realm; his hatred for Kano had not changed at all. Kano felt a sharp stab in his stomach, and looked to see one of Motaro's new tails was scorpion-like, and just pierced his torso.

Motaro lifted him into the air and laughed, and took a long look at Kano's cut-up, rotting face. Kano studied this Demon Motaro and noted his arms were now mantis-like, his hands replaced by giant, barbed sickles, his single tail now multiple, one scorpion-like, one mace-like and one as his original. "Why in the world did I even bother bringing you to Kahn's prison, Kano? I should have stomped you into the ground myself after finding you beaten and broken like the failure you are! Maybe I could have taken that eye of yours as a trophy!"

Kano could barely understand Motaro's words, as Motaro's thick, deep voice was not meant for speaking English. Motaro continued, this time in a Centaurian language, and his original tail snaked up in front of Kano's face and felt the rotted eye. The tip glowed red and pressed against his eye, spilling puss and blood down Kano's face. It sizzled and burned, but Kano was paralyzed with what he guessed was venom from Motaro's sting, and could not scream.

"If it wasn't for the Scrivener taking an interest in you and my lord Baphomet a disinterest, you would be my equal down here... But you were never destined for greatness at this level." Motaro chuckled as he trotted towards the line of spirits and dragged Kano on the ground, still impaled onto his tail. "You'll be happy to know you've been written to the head of the line, and you'll be in great shape during your trial as they break you!" Motaro reared up, roared a terrifying howl and sped towards a fiery pit. Kano dangled and skidded on the hot ground, and felt the cuts, burns, and bruises all over his body again, the voices he had heard earlier laughing at the spectacle and shouting his name. The cackles and laughs deafened his ears as he felt Motaro jump over the pit and let him fall. Kano stared as he descended into the chasm, seeing the faces of every person he had been responsible for the death of on the way to the ground. He saw many faces stand out on the walls laughing at him, including Red Dragon men, Special Forces agents, fellow criminals who got in his way, Kombatants he faced in the Mortal Kombat tournament, soldiers in the Edenian and Shokan armies, and even some Black Dragon members. Why would they be cheering his receiving punishment? Where was he going and who would he meet in this next level of Hell?